Alumnae Panhellenics

[kiteflyerzl]

I have received information from NPC about forming an Alumnae Panhellenic for my area. There is one college in our town (that has a greek system) with 8 NPC groups represented. If you are involved in an APH group (especially if you were involved in starting it), I'd love to hear about your experiences. Specifically, how is your group organized (rep from each group, as a social group, or as a social group with a governing board of reps from each group), what you do at your recruitment info session for women in your area who plan on going through recruitment, do you fundraise for a scholarship and what are the criteria for selecting a recipient, what interactions do you have with the local NPC, etc, etc.

Thanks!

[dakareng]

While I was not our club's elected representative to the alumnae Panhellenic, my sister is, but she has shared her experience with me. They have representation from all NPC groups, not just the 8 that have chapters on the local university campus. At one time, they would organize informational sessions at area high schools (when the schools allowed that-- sadly, while my new state (Texas) does, Ohio does not), provide support for the bidmatching process (again, prior to computerization) but their main 'purpose' is to fundraise for scholarships. Those are available to ANY college woman who is an initiated member of ANY NPC group at ANY college (important resource for all of you looking for additional tuition $$-- look to your hometown's Panhellenic). Since not all groups have enough alumnae to have their own alumnae club, Panhellenic is a surrogate for social events with other sorority women. They base their dues upon the number of alumnae for each group, not a uniform figure. Just as NPC rotates officers, they rotate officers too (rather than electing them, a process that could be quite cumbersome for alumnae).

The informational events in Plano are centered around a style show (appropriate attire for each round of formal recruitment) but all the groups have representatives there who will help facilitate attendees seeking reference letters.

Good luck organizing your Panhellenic.

[GPhiBLtColonel]

In 2001, I did just what you are contemplating doing. At the time, where I live, there was only a 10-year old AXD alum chapter and a DZ alum chapter that was a few years younger; plus the Gamma Phi group that I had started one year prior to
my efforts to get the APH started. There was a KD group at one time, but they had not been too active when I was getting things going and they still aren't all that active -- as a group -- even now and despite the fact that there are many of them in the area. Since we have become an official APH, there is now an official Chi O alum chapter and a new ZTA chapter...the Phi Mus also just started an alum chapter but I know that the APH probably only had a little to do with that -- their national Hqtrs is opening in here Peachtree City in a year or two. A Theta group is also getting started here as well.

I would be happy to chat via email with you about what I did if you want -- it really was pretty much a one-person show although the Gamma Phi alum chapter did help with support by bringing food etc to the first two events we had at my house. For the very first event, I sent out personal invites to every single Greek woman I knew or who happened to be on one of the alum chapters member lists - about 300! there were 50 women who showed up for that as well as the second -- I cooked and the Gamma Phis brought food -- anyone who attended did not have to do anything but show up -- you never know what might prevent someone from attending something --even something like bringing a dish or having to spend money can be a deterrent.

It was alot of work but well worth it, esp now!
Our membership is currently -- and for the foreseeable future --just for individual membership. We have 18 of the NPC groups represented I think. There just are not enough official alum chapters to have delegates. The vision in the future is to be somewhat more formal with alum chapter delegates etc once we have more than just a few alum groups going in the area.

We gave out our first scholarship last year to an area high school
girl who is now at George Washington University. And this year we have enough to give out two $500 scholarships. We have not come up with any specific or unique fundraiser event yet -- just doing outright donations from the members above and beyond the regular annual dues of $10 (they can donate extra to a Super Sister -- general fund; or specifically to scholarships).

We also do annual high school sorority info sessions and coordinate the writing of recs for area girls going to colleges around the country.

I would like to get a Foundation started - a la Houston TX APH -- but THAT is a lot of work and I am not a lawyer....one day though! Our APH supports two local philanthropies -- one is the Womens Success Network (WSN) where women getting back into the work force after being on welfare get new career wardrobes etc. The other is collecting and donating small new stuffed
animals to local police depts and, since we have practically overwhelmed all the nearby police forces with our donations, we are now looking for local hospitals etc....I am hoping we can eventually fund -- in additon to the high school scholarships -- a grant for one of the women (clients) thru WSN for career training that she might otherwise not be able to afford. We are also presently contemplating two other philanthropies involving infants and seniors (we are trying to cover the gamut of needs from cradle to grave!)

Feel free to email me if you want!

[ThetaPrincess24]

The Louisville Alumnae Panhellenic is set up by representatives of each sorority alumnae group in the area and the greek advisors from the colleges of that area. They have one big hoorah a year which is the scholarship fundraiser for area greek women. It's a luncheon and silent auction with a guest speaker.

I think however that there should be more social stuff going on so that greek women (that arent the reps) in the area can meet and network better with others. I am also suprised they dont have a few get togethers before fall rush to meet PNMs, write recs, and talk about the benefits of greek life.


Lexington where I live, doenst yet have an Alumnae Panhellenic but I plan to start one as soon as I'm done with nursing school if one hasnt been started by that time. (There are potentially atleast 16 different alumnae groups in this area if not more.) It's ashame we dont have one.

[shadokat]

The Philadelphia Alumnae Panhellenic is very much like this. We have 21 of the 26 NPC sororities represented, some with more than one alumnae group. We do not involve the greek advisors from area colleges though. Each year we have our big scholarship and awards luncheon, where we give two scholarships to two deserving collegiate women in the Philadelphia area. We also have a silent auction and a drawing for gourmet baskets. Each organization makes a basket up of at least $75 in value and those are used in the silent auction. It's a really nice event, held at a local country club.

I wish our Panhellenic was more responsive and involved with actual collegiates, but at this time, that doesn't seem to be the case. We do philanthropy and donations to a local women's shelter, as well as donating money to causes.

I will add that I had nothing to do with the starting of the org though. I just became our rep this year.

Good luck

[FirstAndFinest]

About a year or so ago I looked into an area APH for NJ and discovered none exists here. I was given a contact to get one started, but I have not done anything further. Are there any NY alumnae associations? Anyone interested in forming an APH??

[hannahgirl]

Our Alumnae Panhellenic recently disbanded and merged with the Greek Alumni Society on campus. Looking at it, there was a lot of overlap, but it was always nice to have just the women's group too. There hasn't been much of a big change so I guess it was for the best.

[DolphinChicaDDD]

Originally posted by FirstAndFinest
About a year or so ago I looked into an area APH for NJ and discovered none exists here. I was given a contact to get one started, but I have not done anything further. Are there any NY alumnae associations? Anyone interested in forming an APH??

What part of NJ?

There are 2: one in Rancocas Valley and one in Bergan County. I'm not sure how active the Bergan county one is, because they don't have a website, but the Rancocas Valley sems to be pretty active.

I'm going to be graduating this May, and would LOVE to be part of an APH.

ETA: I'll be moving back to Hudson county(Bayonne/Jersey City/Hoboken area)...so depending on where Bergan county meets, it would be a hike. What county/area are you in?

[FirstAndFinest]

Really?!?! If you have their contact info, could you please pass it on to me?

I'm in Union County, but our Alumnae Association serves Hudson, Essex, Morris and Bergen Counties, too. It's a large area, I know! I'd be interested in working toward a new APH if one really doesn't exist, or in re-activating one.

[DolphinChicaDDD]

I'm interested in starting one as well!!

I pm'd you

[SmartBlondeGPhB]

We decided that ours would be striclty social until we can build up our member base. There has already been one in this area that folded so we want to start out small and not get in over our heads.

[GPhiBLtColonel]

Our APH is social -- that is what everyone at our first informational party agreed was best -- we all thought we wanted something FUN! to be involved in....that said...we still do sorority info sessions for local high school senior girls and we get recs for girls who need them and we do scholarships for local high school girls and we do community service. None of the get-togethers we host during the year are business meetings! All the business is conducted by Exec and the appropriate commitees info is passed down to the membership.
We try to stick to the same schedule every year (for our three year long history - lol!) so it will get more ingrained into everyone's mind as time passes; here is what our calendar looks like -- it is also printed in our directory...
late Aug - dessert reception (potluck at a member's home) to commemorate our official affiliation with NPC; we have a guest speaker too...this year was FengSheui (sp?)
early Oct - fall potluck dinner at a member's home; with a guest speaker (we get a representative of one of our philanthropies to speak)
Dec - Holiday appetizer party and gift exchange at a members home
Feb - Founders Reception (hosted by us Gamma Phi's! at my house - no one brings food or drinks except the Gamma Phis and we have a guest speaker (last year we had a handwriting analyst -- lots of fun! and this year we had a local author who is a Zeta in our APH)
Mar/Apr -- sorority info sessions (at local public libraries)
Apr - officer installation and scholarship luncheon (we had done these in members' homes but we have too many attendees now so now we do it at a local hotel in a small ball/party room) We try to have an NPC rep officiate (first year it was our Area advisor who later became the DZ national Pres, last year we had the AST NPC third delegate (a personal friend) and this year we have a past AXD officer as well as the state school supt (yes the one of "evolution = biological changes over time" fame! -- she is a Kappa and a charter member of our APH)
July --our city has a 4th of july parade with GOLF CARTS! that we always have an entry in -- a ChiO dresses up like Lady Liberty and I dress like Uncle Sam (though a few small kids called me SANTA as I walked by!

[BadSquirrelBeta]

I thought that it was really beneficial that we had a representative from a very established APH in the area that was gracious enough to travel down and assist us with our planning session and give us some advice. Maybe there are some NPC sisters from a nearby APH that can help you out too. How exciting that you are taking the helm and getting organized. Kudos to you all!

Proud to be part of the South Puget Sound Alum Panhellenic (Tacoma/Olympia, Washington area).

[pinkyphimu]

i am involved with the boston aph. this is my first year. basically, each org that has an established alumnae group sends at least one delegate. any group that doesn't have an ac in the area can take part on their own. we have several groups like this. we meet once per month at a local restaurant to discuss business and planning. in the past, they have tried having each ac host a social event, but it never really went over well. this year, we decided that we were going to try to be more involved with the collegiates. we are hosting a networking event for seniors next week. we have always done a scholarship for dues. this year, instead of hosting a luncheon and auction, we asked each ac to host a party (ie. tupperware, pampered chef, etc.) and dontate the money raised to the scholarship fund. the goal was that each chapter would invite the other groups to participate. i haven't heard the final numbers on this yet.

[gphib_95]

GPhiBLtColonel can you tell me more about these high school sorority info sessions. I think that sounds like a great idea, since sorority rush is so competitive here in the south.